Angels of reflections

Angles of Reflection is a contemplative civic memorial, commissioned to honor Judge Rowland W. Barnes, Court Reporter Julie Ann Brandau, and Deputy Sheriff Sergeant Hoyt Teasley, who lost their lives in the Fulton County Courthouse in the service of justice on March 11, 2005. Artist Stuart Keeler conceptually combines several images: a Chattahoochee River pine forest, the interior mechanism of a clock, and the circular pattern of seeds in a sunflower’s center, to evoke thoughts about the human condition, transcendence and universal perceptions of time. The three lives are represented metaphorically by the abstracted yellow lines that transpose into golden rays across the pale violet-toned image. “Reflection” is both a scientific and a philosophic term. Scientifically, a beam of light will bounce into new visual directions when it encounters reflective surfaces. Energy is not lost, but transformed, re-directed. As we search for meaning after incomprehensible tragedies, the poem – Think of a Tree from The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying – reminds us of the interconnectedness of all experiences to the ever-evolving whole.